Leveling up

My buddy wrote a couple of excellent posts about his ambitious goals for 2010, and it’s made me jealous. I like New Year’s Resolutions. It’s as good a time as any to say, “Hey, I just passed ‘GO’. Time to start my journey around the game board again. I wonder if I can do anything differently this time around.”

Or, more to my perspective: “I just gained a level. Now how do I want to spend my skill points and advances on myself?” Whether it’s New Year’s Eve, your birthday, or some religious Day of Reckoning, we all need to pick an annual point of reference and use it to look back and reflect. I prefer doing this on my birthday, which is only two weeks after New Year’s, so I start thinking about it on January 1st, and by my birthday, I have a pretty good idea how I want to spend those experience points.

Socializing
Wifey and I decided that this year we will spend more time with friends. Last year, our friends largely got pushed aside by family, and that left us both feeling unsatisfied. So we’re going to hang with our buds more this year and tell the fam to back off. 

Gaming
I intend to do more gaming. It’s my favorite hobby and form of socializing, and quite frankly I want more. I’m going to launch that Savage Worlds game I’ve been talking about. I’m going to invite friends over for board games. And I’ll toss a couple of spare games in the back of the car. I’m going to be like the gunslinging paladin of old: Have games – will travel.

Reading
Unlike my buddy linked to above, I have no crazy notion of reading 50 books. I like Food Network and Netflix too much. Two books per month seems reasonable, but not very challenging. I’ll shoot for three, but I’m not going to count graphic novels or comics. (Although I’d count the six ‘pocket book’ volumes of Strangers in Paradise that I plowed through a few months ago. Damn good story too.)

Blogging
Once again, I make myself an empty promise to blog more regularly. Weekly. Honest to Odin, a blog post each week is my goal and may Thor whack me on the head if I fail. One way I’m going to do this is by posting a short review of each book I read and any new games I play. I’ve been thinking a lot about other themes to blog on, so I might try a few experiments too.

Healthy-ing
Last summer I proved that I can easily drop a few pounds and keep them off if I give it an honest try – and that’s without doing much in the way of exercising. But my fondness for heavy beer and the October – December Hershey’s binge got the better of me, so now I’m starting over again. This year, I’ll keep a better eye on both and add a few more fresh fruits and vegetables to the mix.

Working
I’ve challenged myself to rise up and do something this year at work. I work hard and do a good job, but it’s been a while since I really gave it my all and rolled a critical hit. So I’m putting a few XPs into my work skills this level.

That’s it for my resolutions for the year. I’ll keep you posted on how they play out.


Now reading: Dracula the un-dead (the new sequel) and Knights of the Dinner Table #157